Spirited Away Two: The spirit of the Dragon
by SF Geronimo
Summary: Chihiro returns, but the spirit realm is in chaos. the clash of sibling spirits has killed the spirit of balance, and the only way to restore it is a sacrifice. Chihiro and Haku are the only ones who can,  and who will it be that gives their life?plz read
1. Memories

Chapter one- Memories 11/25/2011

**Disclaimer: It breaks my heart to say this but I don't own spirited away- sniffle.**

**Introduction notes: Hello all you readers,**

**Just a brief word saying that this is a re-vision and or final of my ruff story that I had up. This one actually has a plot line so it should be much easier to understand, please REVIEW ME! I love my reviews! Will say more in official author notes at end of chapter. **

**-SF Geronimo (enjoy )**

"Will I ever see you again?"

"Yes"

"You promise?"

"Promise. Now go and whatever you do don't look back."

"Haku, finally I've found you!"

"No, you shouldn't be here. Leave."

"What?"

"Leave this place, run away and never return."

"But, Haku!"

"And if I ever see you again, I'll have to kill you!"

"What's wrong with this place? It looks just like my world, but worse."

"The balance is off, our world is dying and must take life from yours. But it takes life already tainted with neglect and so dies faster."

"Is there any way to stop it?"

"Yes, you must open your book to page 183."

"What?"

"Open your book to page 183."

(Chihiro POV)

"Open your books to page 183 class." I could barely make out what the muffled voice was saying, let alone figure out who it was. The light that greeted my eyes was white and slightly artificial, agitating my already fuzzy vision. I rubbed my tired eyes and allowed my foggy brain to adjust itself to reality. My eyes popped wide open and I sat straight up, hearing a satisfying series of bone crunching cracks and pops release from my back as I did. I quickly realized that I had been daydreaming- in class- AGAIN!

"Ouch!" I yelped after I felt something rudely jab me in my tender ribs, I looked over and saw the culprit was one of my friends, Sachi. She was spazzing out and dramatically glancing between Sensei ayumi and I while madly flipping around the thin pages of her history book.

"What?" I asked her, she looked like she might be having a heart attack or something. She rolled her eyes, and started mouthing something that I couldn't make out. She began to repeatedly poke a random page in her book, while mouthing the same words over and over again.

"Seriously, Sachi what is it? I don't know what your saying." She shook her head violently, changing her hand gestures again like she was playing charades or something. "Sachi, I don't think this is the best time to be playing charades, we might get in trouble." Her face turned a bright red, and she looked about ready to erupt. It sort of reminded me of some old American cartoons I had seen where if a person gets mad the fill up with red and start spewing steam from their ears and nose.

"ACK! CHIHIRO I WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU TO TURN TO-" a ruler whizzed past my ear and slapped forcefully down on my desk, causing me to practically jump out of my seat.

"Chihiro san! Sachi san! Would you care to tell me why you are disrupting the class!" Our history teacher looked down at us with that disgusted look of hers, drawing a slight breath when she looked over at Sachi's book.

"And Sachi! You aren't even on the right page!" I hesitantly glanced down at Sachi's book, and sure enough in her made little game of "guess what I'm trying to say" she had forgotten to flip her own page back. But wait-

"Huh?" I whispered quietly to myself, my book was on the right page! I looked to my left at the boy sitting next to me, he flashed me with a classic juvenile grin and I rolled my eyes. I always had to put up with this, why wouldn't they just leave me alone? The last place I wanted to be right now was a sophomore in Highschool, surrounded by dumbstruck boys, status greedy girls, and clueless teachers.

"RING" the bell that signaled the end of school, chirped loudly in my ear causing my head to throb and feel like it might explode.

"Ouch." I covered my ears with my hands, pressing them together as hard as I could like I might be able to block out the noise by doing so. Of course, that just caused the noise to rattle around inside my cupped hands, making it even more unbearable. It was times like this when it seemed as though nothing could possibly have gotten any worse, that fate found a way to prove me wrong.

"Hey, Chihiro?" I felt a something warm rest on my shoulder, squeezing it a little. I looked up hoping that maybe today was the day he had come for me. "You should come over to my place after school, my parents are gone and I have the whole place to myself." But things could always get worse, the last person I wanted to see right now was Hikaru. His voice burned in my ears, it was so coarse and loud and nothing like Haku's own soothing melody. I sighed heavily in disappointment, I didn't want to deal with any boy asking me out or inviting me over or drooling at me today, in fact I didn't really want to deal with it any day.

"Look, Hikaru. I'm not really interested, sorry." I quickly stood up from my chair, hoping he would let go of me and get the message. All the other girls here throw themselves at him, including Sachi. I could never be attracted to his burly figure though, even if he was two years younger so that he was my age. I think its sick, I can't bring myself to accept boys. I feel like I'd be cheating on him, betraying his trust that was so hard to gain in the first place.

"Hey, I don't take no for an answer." His grip only tightened, and his hoarse voice took on a malicious tone that sent shivers down my spine. I was scared, and truly petrified with fear. He forced me to turn around and face him, my eyes burned from his breath that was sharp with the smell of mint.

"I'm really not interested, please let me go." I felt myself shrink back under his intimidating glare, all I wanted was for Haku to show up and knock this guy out. All I wanted was for Haku to come and take me to my real home in the spirit world, all I wanted was for Haku to come back for me. But even memories of his promise weren't enough to fight the fear that riddled my whole body, forcing me to tremble like a leaf that was desperately holding onto its home, not wanting to leave.

"Aww, is the little mouse scared?" he said, his voice growing even more brutal as his mind became clouded. I suddenly realized that he wasn't going to let me leave without a yes on a visit to his house, it sent another wave of fear crashing through my body that was shaking violently. I started to fight against his grip, struggling to free myself from his massive hands.

"No! Stop it!" I screamed, hoping some school facility or another teacher might hear me. I felt wet droplets racing down my cheeks, I was paralyzed with fear and realized the feeling was slightly familiar. I remembered when I was first trapped in the spirit world about five years ago, I was all alone and I cowered under the brutal nature of the spirit world without even so much as an inkling of an urge to fight back. This was history repeating itself, only this time Haku wasn't here to save me.

"C'mon little mouse! You know you- Huh?" Suddenly a gust of wind buffeted us both, immediately I thought one thing- Haku. And despite my position I began to look around eagerly for a boy with emerald eyes, or a slender-bodied white dragon. But the only thing that I saw was a shadow that had no owner, or at least one that I could see. "Huh?" Hikaru said, somewhat stunned from the blast of icy wind. I took my chance to escape while he was distracted and did the first thing that popped into my mind.

"I said STOP IT!" I screamed at him, and kneed him sharply in the groin. He collapsed to the ground, curling with pain into a fetal position. I wasted no time in scrambling out the door, my feet slid a little as I ran with clumsy steps away from the terrifying scene. Water blurred my vision as I burst through the doors of the school, running down the blocks to my secret place where I felt safe.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Get out of the road!"

"Move it lady!" I paid no attention to the people who shouted rude comments and critically watched me run straight up the middle of the lane, my head was buried in my hands as I ran blindly to the one place where my questions could be answered. I was running to his river, to a place where he was still connected and where I could make believe I was talking to him. Thankfully it wasn't to far from my house, just over a few hills behind the other houses in my neighborhood and further into the forest thicket just before the leveled land disappears completely under giant trees. Running through what I presumed to be most of the forest was the mighty Kohaku river that had been re-routed underneath the apartments that were now abandoned. Everyone had thought the apartments were haunted by the dead spirit who guarded this river, but I knew very well that spirit wasn't dead, or at least I thought so. I often thought of wandering into the forest to find a larger part of the river, but I knew of the old stories and rumors that any mortal who enters that forest will never come back alive.

"Haku? Haku! Please, Please Haku. I don't know how much longer I can wait for you, I don't know how much longer I can believe you." I knew in my heart that if I had to, I could've waited till the day I died to see the river spirit again. But I also knew that every day I went without him the tear in my heart grew a little bigger, the hope in my mind became a little smaller, and the will to live went a little faster.

"Please, Haku. Just this one time, answer me please." I didn't even get to finish my question before I felt my body break down in tears again. Forlorn sobs riddled my body encouraging it to fall, and being met with no resistance the skin on my knees felt the cool, damp grass that blanketed the clearing. Sadly this conversation wasn't at all strange to me, in fact this was how I had ended my day for the past couple of years. I had ended my day in pitiful cries to the one who never answered them, yet for some reason after almost five and a half years I still gave him my tears.

"Please Haku, I have to see you again. I don't care how or where but sometime soon, I think I'm beginning to lose hope Haku. Please don't let me lose hope, don't let me doubt the truth behind your promise." My heart ached under the weight of a promise that he made the last time I saw him, one that was not yet fulfilled. I squeezed my eyes tighter, causing more tears to fall freely down my face and into the waters of his river. All I wanted was to know that he truly meant what he had said, and it wasn't just something to make me leave.

"If you're out there, just send me a sign or something, anything, I need to know you're there Haku." I managed to tear my hands away from my face to look up at the evening sky that was dotted with a million stars that glittered against their navy blue canvas. I didn't care for the stars though, I was just watching, waiting for a sign that he was listening to me, that he heard me. But non-such came, this I should've been used to too.

"Excuse me?" I felt my body freeze but my mind began to run a million thoughts at once. Could it be him? Did he finally come back for me? My heart leapt up my throat, like it was trying to get a peek outside my mouth to see whom the mystery man was.

"Hey, you okay there?" the voice belonged to a teenager, it sounded like a voice that was young and lively, a voice I hadn't heard in a long time. My heart couldn't bear it any longer and before I knew it my legs had danced around each other and I was facing the sweet melody that rang through my ears. I eagerly popped my eyes open, sure of the fact that this voice belonged to none other than Haku. A figure stepped out of the shadows of the forest and into the light of the streetlamps that strangely seemed to glow fiercer with every step he took closer. Out of the darkness stepped a figure with stunning black hair that shamed the night and reached down to his shoulders, his form was tall, thin but muscled like a biker might be.

"Haku?" I questioned, my heart was racing faster and faster with every step this young man took toward me. I caught myself holding my breath as he ducked out from under the final covers of the shadows lifting his head revealing his identity.

"Huh? Is there someone else with us?" I felt my heart drop down farther than I thought it could go, maybe with no return. My hope was completely shattered after one look at his eyes, they were no shade of stunning emerald green but held the hue of amber instead. I felt myself begin to cry again and I turned away, burying my face in my hands once again.

"Hey now, I know I'm not the prettiest thing but am I really that ugly?" I couldn't help but find that even when everything seemed sad and lost, I could still discover laughter inside. I let out a few small giggles before wiping my eyes with the back of my hand and turning around to meet him again.

"No, ha-ha. Its not you, I just thought you were someone else. But if you don't mind my asking, who are you anyway?" I sized the stranger up, inspecting his every detail on the outside and on his personality. That oddly familiar inkling made its way to the front of my mind, I felt a loud gasp come up to my mouth and I quickly brought my hands there to prevent any more from escaping.

"To be honest, I don't really know. But it looks to me like you might?" I couldn't help but giggle again, the carefree attitude of this stranger was highly addicting.

"Say, have you ever seen the movie Howl's moving Castle? If you were anyone I would say you look exactly like the great Howl himself, he is a wizard. But, all except for your eyes." It was true, he was a spitting image of howl but his eyes weren't that crystalline blue, they were extraordinary amber that seemed like the gem itself. And he also looked to be about a year and a half older than me, it was a wonder in never saw him around school because I surely would've remembered him. He cocked his head to the side, laughing in a carefree way just like Howl did.

"Good to know someone knows who I might be, now might I ask who you are?" He asked me, and who was I to deny him?

"Chihiro, Chihiro Ogino." I said, but the howl-like teen was staring back into the darkness. I peeked out from behind him to see what he might be staring at with narrowed eyebrows so hard. But only the blackness of the night greeted me, I thought maybe he might be delusional or something until the vile smell of rotting flesh caught my nose, and the sound of malicious laughter filled my ears. I looked up at him and he must've noticed I was frightened because I suddenly felt his hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, don't be alarmed but I forgot to mention I was being followed. Now you don't want these mangy mutts on your trail so do me a favor and think of a place you really want to be right now okay?" He said to me with a re-assuring voice, his kind eyes forcing me to trust that whatever he was going to do would work.

"Okay." I said, nodding back to him. He smiled to me again and stepped back, away from the cackling of whatever was pursuing him.

"Good, now just close your eyes and picture the place you want to go to. And don't stop thinking about it until you are on solid ground okay!" I didn't have time to question anything else he said, because my world suddenly felt like it was spinning violently around, thrusting me into some tornado of blackness.

"Ouch!" I yelped as I hit the ground hard, I lay there for a moment sprawled out on the cold ground looking up at the evening sky trying to figure out what in the world just happened. It didn't take long before I began to grasp where I was, the forest crowded me on both sides squeezing the dirt road that was overgrown with weeds between both its forested sides. I noticed the fresh footprints in the grass, they had been made yesterday as I had visited this very place like I did almost every day.

"Maybe, today is the day." I whispered to myself, warm thoughts and memories flooded my body just thinking about what could've been on the other side of the red, plaster amusement park building looming over me in the moonlight.

"Maybe, just maybe. Today is the day." I said again, this time with more confidence. I stood for a moment, listening to my voice echo throughout the dead silent tunnel. Without warning I bolted, running through the lonely corridor as fast as I possibly could. I was chasing my destiny, and it was waiting for me on the other side where the moonlight shined brightly.

"Haku! I'm coming!" I shouted into the blinding light that greeted me at the edge of the tunnel, the air immediately felt colder and it pricked my skin with icy nips. I felt a huge grin spread across my face as I made my way up to the top of the hill where I could see everything I ever remembered. Where I could see the spirit world.

**Author's Note: **

**So, what did you guys think? Please tell me it was better than my other first chapter. Anyway, wanted to portray Chihiro's sorrow further and her isolation. BTW, I came up with Hero as a carefree character before I even knew what howls moving castle was, I thought it was kinda spooky how closely they matched. Anyway, I didn't model Hero after Howl, they just happened to be REALLY similar just Hero really cannot- oops! Cant give away to much, please review me and tell me how I did!**


	2. Hope will grow in the Garden of Doubt

Chapter two: The Hope that Grows in the Garden of Doubt 11/28/2011

**Disclaimer: Don't own any part of Spirited Away or it's Characters, but that won't stop me from trying. **

**Introduction notes: Hello fanfic readers!**

**Hope that this chapter is sufficient, seeing as how I felt guilty for not having it up as a thanksgiving treat. (p.s. I literally said I was thankful for all the people (i.e. you the readers) for reviewing and helping me improve my stories! At the table!) So I stayed up till 3:00 a.m. today and it's a Monday to finish it! Please enjoy!**

**-SF Geronimo **

**P.P.S. Happy late-thanksgiving!**

previously:

"Haku! I'm coming!" I shouted into the blinding light that greeted me at the edge of the tunnel, the air immediately felt colder and it pricked my skin with icy nips. I felt a huge grin spread across my face as I made my way up to the top of the hill where I could see everything I ever remembered. Where I could see the spirit world.

"It's gone" I whispered, scared and shocked at what I saw. I felt my heart freeze over, shattering like a mirror reflecting the sadness within itself. My high hopes suddenly fell, crashing into disappointment. Nothing had changed since yesterday or the day before that, what I saw was not the spirit world.

"No! where is everything? Where are all the buildings? And the spirits? And the Bathhouse?" I felt my tears begin to race again, free to flow as thickly and strongly as the pleased because I felt that this was the right time for it. The freezing wind bit my cheeks and froze my tears mid-race, I squinted through the icy blast hoping that if I looked hard enough maybe the scenery would change. Another chilling gust collided with my face, causing it to sting and burn with the shock of a new thought, that this was reality, cold, and merciless. I realized that I had been ditched, abandoned and left with broken promises.

"I've got to get out of here!" I screamed, whipping around away from the freezing wind that pursued me. This place held to many memories, to many fond thoughts and promises that broke my heart every time I tried to make them come true. And now I ran, I ran away from my past and from the pains it gave me. I decided to run to the river, and even though my heart was broken I still hoped he might be there.

"I hope your happy Haku! I hope you're happy with what you've done to me!" I screamed at the water trickling over the rocks, though I felt like I was screaming it at him. I had run back to the Kohaku river, hoping-pleading-expecting Haku to be there waiting there for me in his elegant dragon form. Waiting to fulfill his promise, waiting to tell me his was sorry. But no, all I got was the distressing sound of tears dripping into the running stream, re-uniting with its friends. Why did life have to be so cruel? Even the water get's to return home in the end, while I am still stuck here.

"Home isn't here, not anymore its not." I said, sniffling and wiping my nose with the back of my sleeved arm. It was true, though I may live in this world, in that little house a few blocks down, that didn't mean it was my home. It will never be my home, my home is where the spirits are, where the spirits roam, where the spirits live is where I should but I don't.

"You haven't come for me Haku!" I shouted, into the blackness again." How do I know that you ever will? How do I know that your word was true! Huh Haku! How do I know that everything you ever told me, wasn't a lie!" I practically screamed the last bit, and soon after I found myself holding guilt where my heart was. I don't know why I felt guilty about calling him a liar, in fact how was I supposed to know they weren't all liars?

"And if Haku was lying, " I said, sadness replacing anger once again in my heart and voice, "Then maybe everyone else was too. Maybe you all were, Yubabba, Zeniba, Boh, Yu-Bird, Lin, Foreman, and-" my voice trailed off, he couldn't have lied to me, in fact he couldn't even talk. "No, not you too no-face, you couldn't have. But…" I whispered, my voice shaking and cracking making it sound like I was some small child who had just witnessed her parents having a really bad argument for the first time.

"If you all lied to me, then everything I ever had from that stupid world is too! every memory! Every promise! Even this hairband is a lie! This lie is what causes me the pain!" I screamed again now, violently tearing the magenta band out of my hair taking a good chunk of my unmanageable mane with it and chucking them into the river. "I hate it! I hate all of you! Especially you Haku!" I wailed out into the river, barely audible among my forlorn sobs. Despite the crazy assortment of emotions that ricocheted of every corner of my wounded heart, one thing was for sure. The thing I knew was that I hadn't meant a word of what I had just said, that it was all my own little lie.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" I asked cautiously, slowly pushing the heavy door open knowing the reply would be no. I had decided even the river brought to much sadness for me to bear at the moment, and ran away from it too. I had originally walked to my apartment but found that the lack of sound ringing through the lonely building only caused me to feel the greater burden of a heavy-hearted soul.

"Hey guys, can I stay here tonight?" I asked, only the soft sound of shuffling hay and heavy grate of iron on cobblestones answered me. Yet, that answer filled the lonely feeling in my heart then, I knew it meant that some of my closest friends were coming to greet me. The horses were my silent therapists, the best kind in my opinion. They had saved me from becoming a total social outcast five and a half years ago after I returned from the spirit world.

"You know, you guys have always been there for me. I wish Kohaku could learn a lesson from you." I whispered, stroking the mane of the dapple-grey gelding. He lifted his head up, acknowledging my words and encouraging me to go on. "I don't know what I would have done without you, I would've been lost." I whimpered, talking about one specific horse in general. "I miss him Apollo. I miss Angel, and I miss Haku." Tears ran steadily down my cheeks and I buried my face in his furry neck, but even the warm comfort of his beating pulse couldn't satisfy the gnawing hunger in my chest that longed for one that abandoned me in another world, and one who left me for another world.

"But I don't miss those people, I hate them!" I screamed, lifting my head up wearily from his neck. I squinted hard through my puffy eyes at the oak panels that covered the ceiling, looking into nothingness. I remembered how I even stumbled across this place to begin with, it was two months after we got back from the spirit world and everything had settled except for me. I had become mute, and despite numerous attempts to figure out what had caused this I still stayed silent. On the first day of school my parents took a wrong turn and we ended up here, the long bumpy drive up was filled with the sound of my parents arguing.

"That damn place changed everyone Apollo! I'm starting to really believe that it wasn't such a good things I stumbled across it, but maybe it really was for the better." I said, rubbing Apollo on his forehead, making sure he knew I wasn't angry with him. I remembered that when my mom had finally managed to shout loud enough to make my dad stop and ask for directions it was here, at a random stable situated on the edge of the dark forest. I desperately wanted to escape the fighting I wandered off to the pastures, and there he was- my guardian angel. His coat was the purest white and his mane floated like gossamer in the wind. And I spoke what I thought he was, "Tenshi" I called him, and from then on for five years until my fifteenth birthday we were an unstoppable pair. Sweet memories swirled around my head, filling it with a thin cloud of happiness and coaxing me to sleep. And to that I happily obliged.

(Dream)

"Chihiro! I finally found you!" the whole place was doused in a thick fog that limited my vision, making the voice unrecognizable to anyone else but me.

"Haku? Haku!" I shouted back through the haze, now able to see a black figure silhouetted against it.

"Chihiro! I can't! Help me! I can't get to you!" I saw him now, his details were fuzzy but I knew it was Haku. I rushed to him, trying to reach him and secretly scolding myself for ever thinking he had lied to me.

"Ouch!" I yelped, clumsily banging into some invisible wall. On closer inspection I could see Haku pressed up against it, leaning as hard as he could trying to make it move. "Haku! Why can't I get through?" I yelled, hearing my voice become more and more distant.

"Chihiro! Something is wrong here! This world, I think it's dying!" suddenly the words of the dream that had haunted me every day since my little trip found me again. I tried as hard as I could not to let history repeat itself, but despite my efforts the conversation continued on.

"How can I stop it?" I yelled, suddenly the whole world gave a big lurch, hurtling me into blackness. "HAKU!" I yelled after his quickly disappearing form, he seemed to be yelling something back to me but the darkness seemed to fill my ears like cotton and I couldn't understand anything.

"Ouch, I thought things weren't supposed to hurt in the dream realm." I muttered, rubbing my head when I landed in the new dream. I looked around, emerald green grass fluttered in the wind like a vast ocean, going on endlessly around me. Suddenly a forest line appeared at the back of a small hill that I found myself to be sitting at the bottom of. I looked hard at a new figure emerging from the forest, no two figures.

"Who are you?" I called out, my voice echoed in the absence of other noise. I looked hard at the new figures, on was a man, and was it Howl? No he wasn't real, it looked like the nice man that had used- MAGIC! Why didn't I think of this before! He was from the spirit world, he was from my home! And beside him strode an enormous black, Friesian. They shared their amber colored eyes and both seemed to have hair that floated elusively like smoke. The horse was like the exact opposite of Angel, yet not evil.

"Chihiro" I heard the voice call, I recognized it to be that of the strangers and came to the conclusion that he had definitely been a spirit.

"Chihiro, come with me my friend, my sister-" and at that they were engulfed in a cloud of smoke and blackness, but I could see the boy riding the horse in the cloud. The Friesian seemed to have wings now but before I could even begin to understand what the heck was going on, the ground disappeared and I fell into blackness- again.

(dream ends)

"Ah!" I screamed, my whole body felt confused and my senses were numbed. I grabbed my head and squeezed it tightly hoping to stop the illusion of a spinning world that my brain conjured up.

"Ugh. This happens to me way too often." I grumbled, finally able to see the world somewhat clearly without the urge to vomit. I glanced around and remembered I was still in the barn, and if that wasn't good enough I knew I wasn't in the house because I felt like fire and ice at the same time. The freezing morning air seeped through my skin, causing the sweat that ran down the back of my neck to freeze in its tracks.

"Why isn't my hair in a ponytail for crying out loud! I'm all gross and sweaty back there now." I said, partially whining and asking around at the same time. I reached back and wiped the back of my neck the best I could, slowly getting irritated due to the excess of hair that was falling on my burning neck.

"Darn it! Where is my hairband?" I said, just annoyed at first thinking it probably fell loose during the night. I got on my hands and knees, clumsily feeling around for any elastic hairband-like material that was surely strewn somewhere on the barn floor.

"Where is it? Where is it!" I felt the panic in my voice rise to a clearly audible level, I was in full-fledged panic mode as I searched for the only physical remainder of the spirit world I had left. Suddenly, my body froze and I felt the memories of last night flood into my conscious mind.

"Oh no!" Before I knew it I was out the door, sprinting madly toward the Kohaku River. Of course, I hadn't even thought about riding one of the horses there in my desperation.

"Oh no! it's got to be here somewhere! Please say it's still here! Please!" I said, talking to myself knowing if I ever did make it back to the spirit world I wouldn't live long until Zeniba wrung my neck for tossing her hair band into Haku's river.

"Dammit! I'm going to be in so much trouble when Zeniba finds out!" I somehow managed among my petty whimpers, even though I had declared last night was everything was a lie. I waded into the middle of the river which seemed to have risen at least a foot and looked clearer now than yesterday. I madly scrambled among the rocks, searching for my little magenta hair band. But it was nowhere to be found, the river had probably carried it away last night when the current had risen.

"Well I definitely can't go back now." I said, half joking, half scared out my shorts. I waded out of the icy river and plopped myself down on the grass, shivering madly and feeling my own water drip down my cheeks. That hairband was all I had left of the Spirit world, what the hell had possessed me to throw I away? Oh yes, that's right. Doubt, damn you doubt! I began to throw a mini temper tantrum, fiercely kicking and pulling out the grass by its roots. I had just started the sobbing stage when a noise cut through the wind that buffeted my ears, the voice sounded as clear as it would've been had they been standing right next to me. I froze and realized this wasn't a human voice, it was the call of a horse.

"What the-" I sputtered, managing to shakily stand up and turn around. I drew a short breath and brought my hands up to my mouth. Because there, standing at the top of the hill that shadowed the river, and me was the black horse.

"Oh My Spirits!"


	3. I'm Home

Chapter 3: 12/01/2011

CHAPTER 3: I'M HOME

Disclaimer: Great, now you have reminded me that I own none of spirited away or its characters! Now you must suffer and see me cry!-wah!

Introduction notes: Hello readers!

I am so sorry this took me so long! Just had a tiny writers block and spent a good portion of history class typing this up, and then finished at 2:30 a.m. today. Whoopee! That's how much I love you guys! Also, added some vocabulary terms just incase, if you want me o add anymore just tell me. Anyway more in the authors note at the bottom.

~SF Geronimo

**Vocabulary Words:**

Euphoria~ a feeling of intense excitement and happiness.

Felicity~ Intense Happiness

Ricochet~ a shot or hit that rebounds one or more times off a surface.

Previously~

"What the-" I sputtered, managing to shakily stand up and turn around. I drew a short breath and brought my hands up to my mouth. Because there, standing at the top of the hill that shadowed the river, and me was the black horse.

"Oh My Spirits!"

(Chihiro POV)

It was undoubtedly the horse from my dreams, and this horse was that boy, and that boy was a spirit! I imagined a light bulb suddenly flickering on above my head, like in the American cartoons. Spirits came from the spirit world and didn't leave for the human world unless a powerful spirit sent them, or they were a powerful spirit. He could be my ticket home, my ride back to the spirit world.

"Hey! Umm. Hello?" I called out to him, the horse stopped eating the grass and looked up at me lazily, making me wonder if I really did just have a normal horse on my hands. I slowly began walking closer, treating him like I did the wild mustangs I had helped train in America one time. He watched me casually, his warm eyes were definitely the same as that funny young man I had seen last night. Come to think of it, his mane and body color were exactly the same as his hair too.

"Can you take me to the spirit world?" I yelled, still nervously approaching him. I could hear my heart thumping in my ears, the blood raced around my body high on the promise of returning home. He just stood there, munching on his green weeds blatantly ignoring me. I felt more blood rush to my head carrying anger along with it, I didn't care. Spirit or no spirit I was getting home, somehow.

"HEY! Did you hear me, I said can you take me to the spirit world!" I shouted at him, and that seemed to do the trick. He stopped eating, his ears pricked forward and I saw him throw his head up and down in what I assumed to be a nod.

"Hey, Wait up!" He shied away, charging into a place where he blended quiet well. Now, I don't know if I was just downright crazy or what but the next thing I knew I was chasing a shadow horse into the forest.

"Oh no, wait a minute. This is the forbidden forest, if I stay in here ill never come out alive!" I whispered to myself suddenly skidding to a halt on the slippery leaves that coated the forest floor. I looked behind me at the path I had just run, it was closing up! The light from where the tree line broke was rapidly disappearing and I was trapped, a victim of the forest.

"Help! Please, Someone! Anyone! Help me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs to anyone who might answer, my heart suddenly started beating like crazy pumping fear throughout my body. I was alone, in a creepy forest, and there wasn't a bit of daylight to help guide me-

"Wait a second. What is that?" I looked ahead of me at the ground that was beginning to glow just barely, one had to look very hard to see the light it gave off but with the absence of the sun it was easier.

"What the-" I swiveled around quickly, panic shooting through me painfully once again. I heard a twig snap, followed by the sound of crunching leaves underfoot, I figured that I was being followed. Probably by some demon monster that hadn't eaten since the last innocent unsuspecting human had wandered in here. I couldn't move, I was frozen in place with fear and terror of what could possibly jump out of the darkness.

"Run" a voice called out of nowhere.

"What?" I answered, snapping out of my state of shock.

"You heard me! I said Run!" I came back to my senses, turning around and bolting off down the faintly lit path. I didn't know where it was going, but I had a hunch it was taking me home. As I raced down the narrow forest path, I could smell among the stench of rotting wood and decaying leaves the scent of spearmint that lingered ever so sweetly in the air. It was slightly comforting and energizing compared to everything else here that resembled damp, fungus-infested wood. I couldn't hear anything that might have been pursuing me above the sound of me slipping and sliding on the leaves, I just kept on running. I just kept on telling myself that soon I would be home, soon I would be with the spirits.

I had been running for almost two hours, or it was more like just dragging my aching body along by now. I didn't know where the will to move was coming from by now, my legs had gone almost completely numb and whatever feeling was left sent burning daggers through my body. My aching muscles cried out in fatigue, despite five years of constant conditioning for world equestrian championships and such this still pushed me to my breaking point.

"Oh no, great! Now I'm seeing things." I said, my voice was slightly raspy and dry from dehydration. I smacked my parched mouth, relishing the small amounts of saliva that came and wetted my tongue for a moment. My eyes were fixed on a growing light peeking through the trees that caused my path to lose its neon touch. I looked closer, my fuzzy vision slowly but surely focusing itself and adjusting to the new level of light.

"Wait a minute, the sun? It's the Sun!" I cried ecstatically feeling new reserves of energy flowing back through my body again, fueled by the radiant sun that burned through my doubt. My body picked itself back up again, relieving my exhausted legs of their grueling work, my whole pace quickened a little and the space between the ever-growing light and me shortened.

"Almost there, just a little farther." I whispered, gritting my teeth as I stumbled out of the life-sapping forest and into the blinding light. I rubbed my eyes, trying to sooth them of the burning sensation from the sun but only succeeded in agitating them even more. So I felt around until I found something cool, and leaned against it burying my head in my hands until my eyes had soothed themselves of their irritation.

"Wait! That stupid path took me here?" I said, my voice was riddled with anger as I looked up at the plaster building. What could have been an easy twenty-minute walk had become one of those "short (LONG) cuts"

"Grr! What on earth was that for? All it did was waste the daylight!" I yelled, releasing my anger on the nearest stone and kicking it forcefully into the darkness that filled the mouth of the red plaster building.

"That was probably just some normal loose ho-"

"Crack" the pebble gave a large sigh as it **ricocheted **of the mouth of the buildings tunnel, splitting into multiple pieces that all went their separate ways spinning out into the darkness. But the pebble wasn't what caught my attention, it was something dark and foggy that spooked at the pebble when it hit the wall. Something, or someone was hiding in the tunnel of the ancient red amusement park entryway.

"Hello? Hello-" I said tentatively, slinking up toward the entrance of the tunnel. As soon as I reached its mouth, I saw the shadow spin around again in a blur of black fog, and hide itself further in the shadows. But as it ran away, I heard the oh-so familiar sound of a horses feet swiftly pounding on cobblestone.

"The building, it's moaning." I mumbled to myself, not realizing the full effect of my own words. And before I had time to register, the wind began to pull vigorously yet playfully at my shirt while pushing me from behind. Actually succeeding in making me stumble forward a few steps into the dark, moaning hole.

"And, the wind. It's pulling me in." A total sense of Déjà vu washed over me, remembering that extraordinary day five and a half years ago, the day that changed my life forever.

(Flashback)

(flashback ends)

"I don't know, what if there is nothing there? I don't think I can take my heart being broken one more time." I whispered to myself, and it was true. What if I went to the other side, and the spirit world was still gone? Could I really take heartbreak one more time? My heart could only be put back together so many times until it stayed broken for good, and if disappointment causes it to burst this time, I fear it might've been the last. The building moaned again, this time so strongly that it caused the ground underneath me to tremble ever so slightly. The wind backed me up, sending another aggressive gust of wind barreling down the tunnel, almost knocking me flat on my face.

"It's all the same, the same as back then." I mumbled, a new wave of hope filled me up inside. One that lifted my spirits and urged me on, not knowing what's on the other side yet to go. Not knowing if my wish will come true, to go, and not knowing if he would be there waiting for me, to go.

"Alright, watch out spirit world. I'm coming home." I felt a small smile tugging at the corners of my mouth, and I let it come forward. I walked forward, my strides growing longer and faster with every step I took into the almost impassable darkness of the tunnel. Before I knew it I was at a full-blown run, dodging the various pillars that were strewn throughout the building. True, I was scared just like last time. And like last time I was also holding onto something, but it was not my mothers arm between my in-escapable grip. No, now I found I was holding onto something inside of me, it was Haku's promise I held onto for comfort, I held it with a grip that I promised now I would never let go of.

"I'm home." I whispered, my body and mind were stunned with pure bliss and disbelief at the same time. After five and a half years of waiting, of pain, of suffering and misery, I was finally home, right where I belonged.

"I'm home, I'm home! OH MY GOD! I'M FINALY HOME!" I screamed with pure excitement, my whole being was high off of happiness, off of the weight now lifted and gone.

"Everything is here! I can see it all!" I looked out over the little spirit town in front of me that would soon be waking up. It filled my heart with contentment and the urge to just go crazy with the **euphoria** of returning home. And that is just what it did.

"I can't believe it! I'm finally home!" I squealed, frolicking around in the sea of grass that reached up to my knees. I was giddy with excitement as I cavorted about, acting like the young child I never was. It felt so good, my joy radiated from my heart and it made the air thick with **felicity **encouraging my playful antics. I was acting like a young foal, who had just discovered they had legs and now could be found **frisking** about in the pasture not caring if a soul saw them do it.

"I'm home! I'm home! Whoa-" I felt myself stumble over the edge of the hill that overlooked the spirit town, but I just went with it. I rolled down the slope with pure bliss, everything was right in the world, everything was perfect- or almost.

"Hey? What gives?" Suddenly my oh-so perfect world was trashed once again. My rolling adventures had ended quite abruptly in a sticky patch of black mud, catching me in its bubbling clutches.

"What on earth is a giant patch of mud doing in the middle of- Oh no!" I realized I had forgotten a minor detail-the river. The very same river that separated the two worlds at night and proved to be my downfall the last time I was here. It thwarted me in my path of escape on my first night here, preventing this whole ordeal form happening in the first place.

"Oh no you don't!" I said, a bit delusional now with the desire to reach the bathhouse before some other inevitable thing happened.

"Don't you think for a moment that you're going to stop me again! No way no how! I'm going to get across you somehow!" I screamed, pointing a slender finger at the inky black water. My first thought was the boat, but I didn't want to encounter any other spirits than the ones that already knew me so that was out of the question. And there was only one other option, one other particularly stupid option.

"I'm going to have to swim across aren't I?" I quickly stripped off my thin jacket, figuring if I ever made it I could easily just come back for it later. I carefully removed my paddock boots, gingerly setting them along with the jacket high enough up the bank so they wouldn't get flooded.

"Oh well, here goes nothing." I said, my voice wavered with anxiety and uncertainty again. But there was no turning back now, no I had come to far just to give up. And with that I dove into the murky water, piercing its surface in a streamline fashion.

"Oh crap!" I sputtered, gasping for air but finding that none would come. The water must have been in the negatives because my body immediately went into shock upon impact, combine that with my conveniently timed return of the fatigue I had experienced earlier and you get the perfect mix for trouble. I tried to tread water, but my legs or my lungs wouldn't listen to me, and my fat-free body didn't help the floating. Leaving me struggling and helpless once again.

"C'mon Chihiro! You can do – AHH!" Something attacked me from under the water, grabbing my ankle and yanking me below the surface. I panicked, thrashing about and fighting whatever held me in its prison, but that only resulted in its sharp grip tightening. I looked up toward the surface, the last rays of light were quickly disappearing along with the bubbles that held the air stolen from my lungs that now cried out for oxygen. I immediately started to remember how everyone here basically wanted me dead, and apparently not much had changed.

"Helppp Meeeeeeee!" I called out, hoping some kind water creature might come to my aid. But all I saw was the widening blackness that enveloped my vision as my lungs burned and stung with the lack of air. I let go of whatever miniscule amounts of oxygen that was lingering inside of me, I wasn't going to need it anymore. I passed out, but just as my vision blacked out completely I saw something swimming at amazing speed heading straight for me. Whatever it was it was huge, and it had four legs and maybe a tail. I lost control of my vision, completely going dark along with my brain. Everything became shrouded in a thick fog of confusion, I didn't know what was going on, where I was, and what had just happened to me. I would have bet I was dead, but I could hear a voice still calling to me.

"Chihiro! Your fine now, its alright! We'll be up top in no time at all."

"Just slide onto my back, that's it. Don't worry, I got you Chihiro."

"your safe now, little sis."

**Author's Note:**

Muahawhaw! Aren't I evil? I promised myself no cliffhangers in the first five chapters but I crossed my fingers, this was just to good to resist! Anyway will be posting the next chapter as soon as I get MINIMUM TWO MORE REVIEWS!

Until next time

~SF Geronimo


	4. Onward!

Ohayo Gozaimasu Minna-San!

Now, now I know I've been an absolutely atrocious author, and should be locked up in a cell for the rest of my life. Well, then I wouldn't be able to write stories, eh? Anyway I'm not going to give some excuse as to why I dropped off the face of the planet, just know that via my new account (Find~A~Way~Today) This story has continued! (with a bit of a face lift.)

So, look for this story under the new title,

**Equipose**

It's not bolded or underlined actually, I just did that for emphasis.

Anyway, I would REALLY REALLY APPRECIATE IT if you guys could drop by and read the new story, same plot et cetera just cleaned up. Oh and PLEASE REVIEW IT TOO!

Arigatou!


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